


Maiden in the water

by Rogercat



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Family, First Meetings, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Sea, Storytelling, Swans, Swimming, The Noldor, Valinor, Young Love, teleri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 17:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13253280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Finarfin tells Celebrian how he first met Eärwen as a youth





	Maiden in the water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alystraea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alystraea/gifts).



> Author's note: this was inspired by the drawings of Finarfin first meeting Eärwen by Alystraea on AO3 and Deviantart.

_ King Olwë was nice, sure enough, but his talk about how his city was built had not really caught the youngest Noldor prínce's interest unlike his parents, who were positively aglow at all of the discussion of architectural finesse and structural beauty.  _

 

_ Instead Prince Arafinwë walked along the harbor, careful to not step wrong and fall into the water. Indis, his mother, would scold him for ruining the nice silk clothes she had insisted he wear for today. “To represent the Noldor among the Teleri,” she had said. _

 

_ A swan family caught his eyes, the father watching as two grey and fluffy cygnets jumped down to their mother from the stone bank.  _

 

_ “You must be proud of those sweet little ones,” Arafinwë said to the father, bending over a little, hands on his knees, and watched how the cygnets played in the water.  _

 

_ Then a shape could be seen under the surface. A very light-coloured one, like silver. Arafinwë held his breath in wonder as the shape revealed itself to be a lady coming up to the surface to get some air before sinking back underwater. Her eyes was the same silver as her hair floating around her fair face, and was that pearls hinted at her white dress? Was she perhaps one of the Maiar? _

 

_ In the next moment, Arafinwë felt something push him in the back. The swan, for whatever reason, had gotten it into his head to introduce the Prince to the sea. Arafinwë only managed to yelp before he sank into the water, arms akimbo. _

 

_ Now he was pretty good at swimming as he had been taught how to in the large palace baths and pools outside Tirion as an Elfling, but the salty smell and taste of the sea water had overwhelmed him. As he thrashed about, someone touched him, a firm vice encircling his arm. He opened his stinging eyes to see the maiden he saw earlier smiling apologetically. _

 

_ And Arafinwë felt his heart captured by love.  _

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

“And that is how we met,” a now much older Finarfin finished in a soft voice to his sleeping granddaughter, who had fallen asleep in the carriage on the road to Tirion. 

 

Neither he or Eärwen blamed Celebrian for being so tired, healing in the Gardens of Lorien took much for anyone who had suffered as her. Thankfully, she was much better than back at her first arrival to Valinor, when she had been looking more wraith-like than Elf thanks to how pale and colourless she had been. She had managed to stay alive thanks to the great love from her family, but not even her husband had managed to heal the spiritual wounds in her.  

 

“And it explains why you were staying in Alqualondë far longer than what your father first had planned,” Eärwen laughed, recalling how Finarfin had insisted on staying longer while his parents returned to Tirion. 

 

“Do you think she would like to hear how your brothers met their wives?” 

 

Finarfin looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to recall what he had heard Fingolfin telling. 

 

“I am pretty sure that with your best friend, it involted my still underage brother being saved by Anairë, a love-stuck noble maiden who sadly had failed to realize that he did not share her feelings, a embroidery frame and a very surprising skill in tossing things at people. Sad that her only daughter did not inherit that tossing, or she may have won over my eldest brother's third-born more often in outdoor games.” 

 

Eärwen, who had heard Anairë's version of that event, giggled at the memory as back then, Anairë had not been interested at all in her future husband and had thought of him more akin to a reckless fool always trying to impress his half-brother. 

 

“Nerdanel and my oldest brother first met during a journey, that do I know. I thought that her red hair was familiar somehow, yet that was long before I managed to meet her father Mahtan in person. After all, back then people thought him odd for wanting to learn the skills of a blacksmith instead of a scholar because he was so brilliant in mind...”

 

It did still hurt to think of those times when all the family had been more innocent, not knowing what kind of dangers that could be out there. Yet Finarfin knew that in a way, their lives had been empty of about the darker things in life. With a peaceful home like Valinor, it had been even more of a shock to learn the cruel part of life and to not take happy things for granted.   

 

“I think our firstborn would love to have his niece meet her famed uncles and their families, especially as she learnt that he finally wed Amarië in a loving union of marriage after the start of the Second Age,” Finarfin finally spoke as he petted Celebrian's long silver curls, where she had her sleeping head in his lap. 

 

“They have wished to meet her the moment they heard the news of her recovering going as hoped. Our sons do not want to stress our granddaughter by showing up before she was ready, though I think that their letters and well-wishes may have helped her as well.”  

 

Bending over to him so they would not awake Celebrian by mistake, their lips met in a kiss.  

  
  



End file.
